Battlestar Galactica: Unfinished Business

I'm at the point where I'm about ready to stop watching Battlestar Galactica because of episodes like this one. The amount of flash backs, flash forwards, flash sideways, etc. is extremely distracting and annoying.

I think the writing/production team made a huge mistake between season 2 and this season in jumping so far ahead into the future and trying to rely on flashbacks for the next however many years to tell us what happened.

It would have been much better if they kept the timeline moving chronologically forward versus throwing us all around the universe and timeline. Doing such avoids the ability to create real depth to the story as we are now limited to flashback "glimpses". Huge mistake. I wouldn't be surprised to see ratings lower than last year. I'm about to jump off this ship and I was a faithful and loyal season 1 and season 2 viewer.

Cress: I in Kansas City, which is about 4 hours away from St. Louis. Just a bit too far of a round trip for that (If I could have factored it into a trip to Six Flags and Branson, then maybe... I'm a bit of a Theme Park junkie, but as its what I do for a living...). I would LOVE to see it though. Its funny, that since I've moved to KC from the east coast, I've been more able to do things like that, even though I lived in a much bigger metropolitan area before.

Tim: Thanks... I was in Atlanta when they showed the last one, and by the time I got back to my TiVo, there wasn't much to say that hadn't already been said. I look forward to tomorrow. I'm a HUGE Jane Espenson fan. I didn't really send in a question, but I'm sure I'll find something after her episode airs to ask about.

Dorv: There were a couple of redeeming moments in "Black Market" that did stay with me. One was that this episode heightened my respect for Lee. At the end Lee showed he had the brass and savvy when he took down the black market leader. In this last episode I actually felt sorry for Lee. By the way, welcome back. We missed your commentary last week!

Cress d: Thank you. That brought a smile to me!

Tim-1: I am getting you a life-sized cardboard standee of Grace Park for the holidays. I want a life-sized cardboard standee of Tricia Helfer for my place. :)

I also would like to see more backstory on Adama and Sharon during the "missing" year.

Dorv: Do you (or anyone) live near a major city that is screening the BSG midseason finale in theatres? And ,if so, are you going? I would love to see BSG on the big screen

Cress and Tim: That was me that liked Black Market. And I say that in the "I even liked Black Market" kind of way, and by that I mean that I recognize it was no where near the the caliber of other episodes. My disappointment in the reaction to that episode was more story based than script based. Everyone asked 'Who Cares?' about that story, and I had no problem with that. I liked seeing how the rest of the fleet faired.

Now, was it the best way to see that? Not so much. But again, most of the complaints weren't like yours, raising questions on the quality of the script and dialog.

cress d: I agree, I do not see anything wrong with flashbacks as long as they are co-ordinated well with the flow of the storylines. I think they (writers) owe us a few more as a matter of fact. For instance, how did Sharon and Adama become close? Why did Kara and Saul become friendlier? I would love to know about that. No doubt we will see more flashbacks as we go along. "Black Market" was my least favorite episode as well with all due respect for those folks who liked it. Since you are a member of the faithful who support BSG, you have an equal share in the opinion sea. And I am sure you agree, episodes strong or weak....BSG rules!

PS: As long as Grace Park is in it.

As far as a previous post stating this was a "worse" ep. than Black Market...NO WAY(IMO only). That was a weak ep.(even though I think one of the "main" posters to this BSG blog liked that ep.), I was highly disappointed w/ the script of that ep.(Black Market), even though it had some solid scenes. It was weak. Disjointed. A visual mess editing-wise. I thought this ep. was a strong character driven ep., even though many were "ho-hum" w/ the boxing scenes. the flashbacks were solid imo. There is NOTHING wrong w/ a flashback ep. if done well, and this was done VERY WELL.

Ok, Tim-1(and others) I concede the point that boxing was not in the best interest in the "survival" of the crew. Especially w/ Adama getting his ass kicked after his recent health issues. Doc should have not allowed this. The saving grace for me w/ this ep. was the strong kara/Lee and Bill/Laura flashbacks. Still solid ep. imo.

On another point...why do i have to live so far from a major market to view my beloved BSG on the big screen?! DAMNDAMNDAMN

Figured I'd give you guys a little early heads-up:

http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/12/05/ask-jane-espenson-about-the-next-episode-of-battlestar-galactica/

Gotta agree with Scott H on points 1 & 2. I don't really care about the Apollo/Starbuck relationship and I don't watch BG to get the same love triangles that every other show on TV portrays. The characters are cardboard and are the least interesting people on the show. Neither character learns from past mistakes, instead they repeat them again and again.

The boxing was incredibly unrealistic and no commander or doctor would let their best people into the ring without at least headgear. No military force would let their beloved commander get beaten to a pulp.

This episode was worse than Black Market, which was the previous low water point for the series.

I realize every series has some self contained episodes that they do for cost reduction reasons. (notice the lack of sets or space scenes in this one). Here's hoping the series gets back on track and cans the flashback episodes and kills the Apollo/Starbuck romance forever. People are allowed to move forward with their lives.